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Obama and Ron Paul Issues
Can anyone address the issue of the extent to which Sen. Obama understands and will address the issues that concern Ron Paul and his supporters aside from war, i.e. fiat money, the collapsing dollar, the IRS? Also, some of Sen. Obama's issues address things that are not within the jurisdiction of the federal government such as education.
And to what extent is he willing to end the US role as policeman of the world with troops all over the world which costs trillions of dollars we don't have (even when the "money" is printed out of thin air)?
Thanks.


Hi, Dovie,
I'm not sure what you're hoping for. Obama is obviously not a libertarian. I'll answer your Qs, though:
money, the collapsing dollar
Obama is not heading for the gold standard. His foremost means of strengthening the American dollar is to end deficit spending and start working on the debt. He has been trying to reinstate pay-go requirements in the Senate since he arrived. He will continue to work toward making the government pay for what it buys, instead of postponing funding.
some of Sen. Obama's issues address things that are not within the jurisdiction of the federal government such as education
Obama is not planning on dismantling the DOE, if that's what you're hoping for. You could make a reasonably strong argument that a lot of what the fed now does is not within its jurisdiction. Perhaps the federal government never should have gotten into the business of healthcare, education, energy management, etc, etc. But they did and I don't see turning back as very likely.
And to what extent is he willing to end the US role as policeman of the world
Obama appears to be a new-isolationist who believes in maintaining a strong military but in deploying that military only when strictly necessary, and in relying on diplomatic negotiations as the primary tool of foreign policy.
Hi Dovie
i agree with you on the federal reserve and the printing of the dollars. It was one of the things that I found very interesting about Ron Paul (I'm a democrat). Too bad he didn't get more media exposure. Honestly, I don't think there is any candidate left that has as good a grasp of the domestic economic issue as Ron Paul. Sen.Obama should definetly see this as an important point, but I think his first priority is to work on the deficit and allocate the spending in accordance to his program and the negotiations with Congress.
When it comes to the palestinian/israeli conflict, he has said that Israel has a right to protect itself and the right to exist as a nation state (obviously). So it very much depends on the diplomatic relations with Iran and how far Hamas are willing to recognize Israel. It is a difficult situation, but he did say that he was dissappointed with the how long the current administration waited, before starting serious work on this issue. So I'm confident this will be a priority for him early on.